Phonetic realisation of downstep in Bimoba
Phonetic realisation of downstep in Bimoba
复制标题
Bimoba 中 downstep 的语音实现
作者：
Keith L. Snider
很少有语音现象像声调降阶现象那样引起理论家的注意，并继续困扰着他们。降音是降低音调的区域，有时发生在相邻的，否则相同的音调之间。它是累积性的，连续发生的现象导致音调寄存器的设置越来越低。目前的工作报告的工具研究降在Bimoba，古尔语在加纳的北方地区的发言。据我所知，目前的工作是唯一的描述存在的语气比莫巴。Bimoba是一个很好的候选人的研究降音，因为它是一个'三音'的语言，其中低音（浮动和非浮动）和中间音导致高音降音。许多语音学研究（仅基于听觉印象）认为，一个高音和下一个中音之间的音高差异相当于一个高音和下一个高音之间的音高差异。其中包括Supyire（Carlson 1983）、Babanki（Hyman 1979）、Moba（Russell 1986）和Kagoro（货车de Kolk 1992）。这个问题对声调理论家来说很重要，因为许多关于降音理论的提议正式地将降音的高音等同于一种中音。其中包括Clements（1983）、Hyman（1986，1993）、Inkelas（1987）和Snider（1990）。另一方面，一些其他的提议解释了语音实现规则的降级。其中包括Pierrehumbert（1980）、Poser（1984）、Beckman & Pierrehumbert（1986）和Pierrehumbert & Beckman（1988）。“如果语域移位确实是语音实现的一个规则，那么就没有理由先验地认为语域移位的间隔等同于两个音素音调之间的间隔”（Snider 1990：470）。据我所知，还没有任何工具性研究涉及到这个问题。因此，本研究承诺，以帮助填补这一空白，并得出结论，在Bimoba中的中音是语音上无法区分的降级高音在可比的环境。
Few phonological phenomena have so captured the attention of theorists and continued to baffle them as the phenomenon of tonal downstep. Downstep is the lowering of the tonal register that sometimes occurs between adjacent, otherwise identical tones. It is cumulative, and successive occurrences of the phenomenon result in ever lower settings of the tonal register. The present work reports on an instrumental study of downstep in Bimoba, a Gur language spoken in the Northern Region of Ghana. So far as I am aware, the present work is the only description in existence of tone in Bimoba. Bimoba is a good candidate for a study of downstep, because it is a ‘three-tone’ language in which both Low tones (floating and non-floating) and Mid tones cause High tones to be downstepped. A number of phonological studies (based on auditory impressions only) of three-tone languages with downstep of High tone have claimed that the difference in pitch between a High and a following Mid is equivalent to that between a High and a following downstepped High. These include Supyire (Carlson 1983), Babanki (Hyman 1979), Moba (Russell 1986) and Kagoro (van de Kolk 1992). This issue is important to tone theorists because a number of proposals on the theory of downstep formally equate a downstepped High with one type of Mid tone. These include Clements (1983), Hyman (1986, 1993), Inkelas (1987) and Snider (1990). On the other hand, a number of other proposals account for downstep with phonetic implementation rules. These include Pierrehumbert (1980), Poser (1984), Beckman & Pierrehumbert (1986) and Pierrehumbert & Beckman (1988). ‘If register shift is indeed a rule of phonetic implementation, there is no reason, a priori, for the interval of register shift to be equivalent to that found between two phonemic tones’ (Snider 1990: 470). So far as I am aware, no instrumental study has ever addressed this issue. The present study therefore undertakes to help fill this lacuna, and concludes that in Bimoba a Mid tone is phonetically indistinguishable from a downstepped High tone in comparable environments.